With the world’s attention turned toward San Francisco for its F8 conference, Facebook unveiled its long-rumored mobile ad network called Facebook Audience Network – or “FAN.”

As a direct result of its entry into this aggressive young market, Facebook is now in position to challenge the likes of Google and Apple in the increasingly competitive mobile advertising arena.

As widely anticipated, the ad network will do its part to help developers make money without having to sell their own ads. Developers need only to integrate code to run FAN in banner ads.

Soon – within a few months – developers and advertisers will have access to all that the Facebook ad network has to offer.

“Facebook ads work because they’re personal, relevant and easy to measure on both desktop and mobile,” a written statement from Facebook reads. “The Audience Network brings these same powerful features to additional app-based mobile experiences, giving marketers even more scale for their Facebook campaigns.”

The Facebook Audience Network uses the same targeting available for Facebook ads today, including Custom Audiences, core audiences and lookalike audiences. It features the same measurement tools marketers use for their Facebook ads, too.